A Hanging
Orwell uses the example of a hanging to show how human beings can become insensitive to the horror of taking life, through day-to-day repetition of murder. By using examples of the character's varying reactions at having to perform the unpleasant deed, he also explores how people deal with the concept of taking another's life. Particular care is taken by Orwell not to reveal the nature of the condemned man's crime, which places the focus of the piece on the action of taking the man's life, and not on the moral judgment of weather or not his punishment is fitting his crime. By doing this, Orwell succeeds in placing the reader's thought process squarely upon the issue at hand: How would I deal with the concept of having to watch another man die?Orwell starts this piece by giving a description of the environment in which the prisoners live, but intentionally stays away from describing any of them directly, instead, he lumps them all together with the phrase, "In some of them (cells) brown, silent men were squatting at the inner bars, their blankets draped around them". I feel that he has done this, in order to focus the tone of the story at the steady, day to day feel that what is about the happen is a re
he others are going through, and suffers their humor with good grace, understanding it for what it is: a shield against the emotions that each man is feeling. Orwell ends the piece by having all the characters enjoying a drink together, laughing merrily, but adds the disquieting image of the dead man, still hanging, a hundred yards away. As the story progresses, we are introduced to the character of the playful dog, "It came bounding among us, with a loud volley of barks and leapt round us wagging its whole body, wild with glee at finding so many human beings together". I feel that Orwell uses the dog to play a counter melody to the feelings of the men. Where the group is faced with the unpleasantness of the task ahead, and the general mood is morbid, the dog is feeling joyful, and playful. I think that Orwell is trying to send a message with the dog, and the actions of the characters at the end of the story. After the man is hung, the humans make an attempt to place the event behind themselves as quickly as possible, by acting boisterous, and attempting to laugh the horrible event off. The dog, on the other hand, after the hanging, is depressed, and slinks off, because it knows that something bad has taken place. Perhaps Orwell is trying to tell the reader that the taking of a life is not something to be mad! e light of, and we should cherish all life, as the dog would. Orwell tells the reader of the prisoner's walk to the gallows, and of his revelation that the prisoner is not just an object, but rather a living breathing human being: "When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is full tide". Orwell presents to the reader the sense of emptiness that the prisoner's pas
Some common words found in the essay are:
Hanging Orwell, taking life, orwell trying, deal concept, hanging event, introduced character, story continues,
Approximate Word count = 1198
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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